Catalyst
by crashing-x
Summary: Jenny and Nate's relationship, based on word prompts. UPDATES.
1. Frightening

**author's note**: I suppose this idea came from **Krum_Cake**, and her wonderful drabble collection, _Foundations_. It's all about Twilight, but I thought I would do the same thing, only just for NxJ fans! So, basically I pick a random word prompt and write a hundred word drabble about how the word fits into Nate and Jenny's relationship. Good, bad, or otherwise.

Hope you enjoy!

--

_Frightening._

--

Jenny Humphrey is exactly five feet, eight inches tall.

Nate knows because he measured her one day at the loft. She pouted with that trembling lower lip of hers and he hadn't been able to resist.

Her gargantuan height does not help her to be terrifying, however. In fact, Nate thinks the funniest thing he has ever seen is Jenny with her hands on her bony hips, screaming in Dan's face because he took too much time in the bathroom.

Her face gets red, her fists clench, and Nate sometimes laughs, because this beautiful, willowy girl could never be scary.


	2. Diminuendo

--

_Diminuendo._

--

Their lips meet repeatedly, rain and thunder and lightning all at once.

_Boom. Crash. Bang._

Jenny pulls back to gasp for air. Nate, oblivious to her need for oxygen, reclaims her mouth in seconds and kisses her mercilessly. Her head spins but she doesn't want to let go. Her small hands grab at everything – his arms, his waist, his hair, his neck. Anything to just hold on for this one small stitch in time.

The street grows cold and the kiss starts to slow in a melancholy, depressing sort of way, and Jenny clings tighter to try to prevent it.


	3. Frangible

--

_Frangible._

--

She's all smiles, milky skin, long legs, and klutzy moves.

A million times, his heart stops and his arms twitch as he watches her endanger herself and any object or person within ten feet. She flails as she dances, graceful but gangly, knocking Pepsi cans off the counter as she twirls or tripping over the couch and twisting her ankle. She takes it all; tears never escape her eyes, and her maturity level makes Nate forget she is fifteen for a while.

She seems unstoppable until he is the one to break her.

"_You're not who I thought you were."_


	4. Blame

--

_Blame._

--

Ankles crossed in the air, Jenny draws happily for the first time in weeks. Bright colors form on the page in the shape of a dress. Dan is out and Eric is with Jonathan and Dad is at the gallery, and the only sound in the loft is her pencil scraping the paper.

_Knock, knock._

She almost ignores it.

_Knock, knock._

She abandons her sketchpad with a sigh and saunters to the door, a slight bounce in her step. Pressing her lips together, she opens it. Bright blue eyes pierce hers instantly.

"Jen-"

She slams the door in his face.


	5. Prismatic

**A/N**: I have decided to, upon further reflection, inter-connect all of these drabbles and have an end to this eventually. They will continue to be 100-word chapters, and based on word prompts, but there will be a story arc. In addition, because there are different ways to define a word, I am going to include definitions with the word prompts. Also, thank you so much to my reviewers, especially the few who review every chapter. I adore you all!

_Frightening - to fill with fear; alarm._

_Diminuendo - a gradual reduction of force or loudness._

_Frangible - easily broken; breakable._

_Blame _-_ to hold responsible; find fault with._

--

_Prismatic - spectral in color; brilliant._

--

Nate places his lips against Vanessa's dark hair and shields her from the cold while they walk down the streets of Manhattan, as empty as New York could ever be on a Saturday night. So simple, this is. No guerilla fashion shows or overprotective big brothers or letters professing false love.

She's there and gone in a matter of seconds; a flurry of blonde hair and long legs under a tower of fabric, chatting on a cell phone.

He starts to turn instinctively to call her name, but Vanessa pulls his arm and he remembers that things are simple now.


	6. Confluent

------

_Confluent - flowing or running together; blending into one_.

------

Jenny thinks a lot these days.

Back at Constance and bored as ever, she dozes in American History class or doodles in the margins of her notebook in Geometry. Her mind wanders while she stares out the window, wishing she could be anywhere else. Mostly behind her ancient sewing machine. She thinks about the fabrics she might use next, the colors. Dainty purples and bright greens and blues, endless blues. She's tried them all; sky, navy, robin's egg.

She tries to match the exact shade of Nate's eyes but it always comes up short somehow, like it's off-limits to her.


	7. Errant

--

_Errant - deviating from the regular or proper course; straying_.

--

Nate hears a day too late. Jenny's things are packed and her train ticket to Hudson has already been bought. A semester, Dan tells him. That's how long she'll be gone.

"It will be better for her," Dan says. "She needs it."

This seems ridiculous in so many ways that Nate can't even get the right words out. As he flips open his phone, he forgets about Vanessa and college and the lies and secrets and his parents and everything else. He doesn't care anymore. He finds the one number he thought he had lost and texts her one simple word.

_Stay._


	8. Hypersensitive

--

_Hypersensitive – overly sensitive._

--

They've been locked away in her room for five hours and twenty-six minutes.

Jenny doesn't plan on leaving anytime soon.

Nate's hand strays to her hip where her shirt has ridden up and when he touches her skin, she realizes his fingers are unusually calloused, as though he has worked his whole life instead of having everything handed to him. It only proves her theory; he's different.

She knows she'll have to explain to her father why she's home, why she changed her mind. She doesn't care.

He strokes her hip and she trembles – ticklish, but only to his touch.

--

**author's note**: i apologize for being gone for soo incredibly long! so many things going on. blah. i won't bore you guys with the details of a sixteen year old's busy life. but i want to thank you guys for every single review, every favorite, every alert that i've received. you guys are awesome and i promise to keep new drabbles coming. :)


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